


A Zombie Head in a Christmas Tree

by scientits (donedirection)



Series: Twelve Days of Christmas [1]
Category: One Direction (Band), Radio 1 RPF
Genre: Christmas Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-02 02:34:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2796476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donedirection/pseuds/scientits
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>December 2012 - Nick properly decorates a Christmas tree for the first time ever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Zombie Head in a Christmas Tree

“What do you mean you’ve never properly decorated a tree?” Harry asks, pushing the branches of a particularly wide fir aside, so Nick and Aimee can walk past. “Not even like when you were like a kid? 

Nick lets out a short bark of laughter as he passes and continues to inspect each tree in the row. Aimee rolls her eyes and hisses, “Great, now you’ve gotten him started.” 

“Certainly seems like a nice family thing, doesn’t it? Get everybody together and decorate the tree? Not with Pete Grimshaw in the house,” Nick says, dramatically dropping a branch he’d been examining. “He always says, ‘Well, I’ll just do it and then we’ll see how it turns out.’ And then it’s always color coordinated and perfectly symmetrical. He thinks he’s curating something for Tate Modern or summat.”

Harry can’t help but laugh because he’s seen the Grimshaw tree, and it did seem a little too orderly – especially in comparison to his own family tree, which Anne still covers with his and Gemma’s homemade decorations from primary school.

“And you’ve not bought a tree of you own in the decade since you’ve lived there?” Aimee asks, brushing pine needles off the sleeve of her fur coat.

“Well three of those were uni, and then I couldn’t afford one in my first flat, and then I was with Henry and Gellz. And as you can probably imagine, they’re worse than Pete. I wasn’t even allowed to carry the boxes up from the cellar!”

Aimee seems like she’s about to say something snarky, but Nick suddenly halts, spreading his arms to stop them. “That’s it, that’s the one!”

When Harry turns his head to look where Nick is pointing, he sees what is probably the saddest looking tree on the entire farm. It’s barely as tall as Harry, and while the bottom of the tree is full enough, the top is so sparse he’s not sure it could support any ornaments. But Nick is looking at the tree like it’s his first-born child, so Harry just calls over the attendant.

 

Later, Nick manages to wind a string of lights around the tree – _wind_ might be a little too generous a word, as it’s pretty impossible to wind anything around four twigs – and they manage to drink most of two bottles of wine in the process. Harry is sat on the floor, picking through a box of ornaments between his knees, and handing them up to Nick to hang on the tree.

Once they’d found a few that were light enough to put on the topmost branches, Nick announces, “I think she’s finished!”

“Have a step back and make sure then, it’s what Pete would do,” Aimee says from the couch, face half hidden by her giant wine glass.

Nick offers a hand to Harry, but before they can step back to admire their work, Nick exclaims, “Oh, I’ve forgotten the star!”

Nick goes off to look in the closet, and Harry plops down on the couch with Aimee, giving Thurston’s head a pat. She clinks her glass against his and says, “Glad to have you back. He’s not quite the same when you’re away.”

Harry’s pretty sure that the warmth that spreads through his body isn’t just from the wine catching up to him. But before he can decide how he should respond, Nick comes back in proudly brandishing a plastic skull. He places it on the highest branch on the tree, and somehow it manages to balance on the first try. Nick looks over his shoulder with a goofy smile plastered on his face, “A Christmas miracle!”


End file.
